Text of: 30840-CS-R535-U

Editor's note: This petition calls for change in a resolution that was not passed by the 1996 General Conference but was included in the Book of Resolutions in error.

Delete current text of "Gun Violence in the U.S."and replace with the following new text, p. 535:

Violence and, more particularly, violence to children and youth is a primary concern for United Methodists. We recognize and deplore violence which kills and injures children and youth. In the name of Christ, who came so that persons might know abundant life, we call upon the church to affirm its faith through vigorous efforts to curb and eliminate gun violence.

Gun violence is killing America's children. Based on statistics from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, there are an estimated 223 million firearms in the United States. Approximately one out of every four households owns a handgun. The risk of handgun violence to children and youth is more prevalent in the United States today than in any previous generation. Our communities and schools are so exposed to large numbers of privately owned guns that no mere attempts at providing slightly better security can match the awful threat of guns finding their way through our well-intentioned safety systems.

A significant total reduction in the numbers of guns in our communities is our goal in ministry. We serve and our society's children go to school amidst passionately violent segments of current youth culture. No appeals to individual autonomy are sufficient to justify our church's ignorance of this threat. The need to prevent the incidence of firearm related injury and death is an issue of increasing concern and a priority U.S. public health issue. The United Methodist Church is among those religious communions calling for social policies and personal lifestyles that bring an end to senseless gun violence.

Gun violence in America's schools has emerged as a growing and disturbing trend. The United Methodist Church supports ministries that address the issue of violence and crime prevention for children/youth in urban areas through the Communities of Shalom. Violence is no longer confined to the streets of urban areas but has occurred at an increasing rate in suburban communities. Over the past several years, high profile cases of school shootings involving suburban youth killing and injuring teachers and peers alike have once again brought the issue of guns and youth to the forefront of national attention.

These acts of senseless violence should not be an acceptable occurrence in any community: suburban, urban or rural. The church must continue to address these issues of violence and develop programs to enrich the lives of all children/youth.

In light of the increase of gun violence affecting the lives of children and youth, we call upon The United Methodist Church to:

1.Convene workshops of clergy and other mental health care professionals from communities (urban, rural and suburban) in which gun violence has had a significant impact in order to discuss ways by which The United Methodist Church should respond to this growing tragedy, and to determine what role the church should take in facilitating dialogue to address the issue of gun violence in our schools and among our children. 2. Educate the United Methodist community (parents, children and youth) on gun safety, violence prevention, adult responsibility around gun violence prevention, and the public health impact of gun violence.

3. Identify community-based, state and national organizations working on the issue of gun violence and seek their assistance to design education and prevention workshops around the issue of gun violence and its effect on children and youth.

4. Develop advocacy groups within local congregations to advocate for the eventual reduction of the availability of guns in society with a particular emphasis upon handguns, handgun ammunition, assault weapons, automatic weapons, automatic weapon conversion kits, and guns that cannot be detected by traditionally used metal detection devices. Link these groups to community-based, state and national organizations working on gun and violence issues.

5. Support federal legislation to regulate the importation, manufacturing, sale, and possession of guns and ammunition by the general public. Such legislation should include provisions for the registration and licensing of gun purchasers and owners, appropriate background investigation and waiting periods prior to gun purchase, and regulation of subsequent sale.

6. Call upon the United States government to establish a national ban on the importation, manufacture, sale, and possession of handguns, handgun ammunition, assault weapons, automatic weapon conversion kits, as well as the production of guns that cannot be detected by traditionally used metal-detection devices.

7. Call upon the print, broadcasting, and electronic media, as well as the entertainment industry, to refrain from promoting gun usage to children.

8. Discourage the graphic depiction and glorification of violence by the entertainment industry, which greatly influences our society, and recommend that these issues be addressed through education and consciousness raising.

9. Call upon the federal and state governments to provide significant assistance to victims of gun violence and their families.

10. Recommend that annual conferences make visible public witness to the sin of gun violence and to the hope of community healing.

 

 

 

 

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